Ask HN: Realised I put in much more work than cofounder. What to do?
- I and a friend started a company together in Feb, working remotely, 50%/50% split
- He is business/marketing, I am product developer who built early version few months prior to starting a company with him and we built the product on top of that.
- We put a vesting schedule in place, but it's pretty poorly written, specifying only what happens if person leaves, not specifying any duties or similar. (My first time doing that, be gentle!)
- Because it was almost exclusively product development till now I naturally had much more work than him.
- First few months he did not put in as much work due to personal reasons (I was ok with that since I had more work at that point anyways), but things are not improving and he realizes we are getting close to launch date
- Considering he had much less work to do than I did, he somehow still didn't manage to get things ready for launch, and it's starting to block me + I have to do his stuff. This is why I started to be nervous. I put in much more than he did so far.
- He is open to suggestions that would make things fair, but he would preferably do it in a way to keep 50% share I assume
- I am speaking with him about the situation as well and we both want to resolve it in the fairest way possible. I have faith that he will shine once we go live (in about a month), but I can't get rid of feeling that I may be screwing myself.
What is the normal way to deal with a situation like this? Essentially I would like to avoid the fact that I will do more work and then we will be equal. I am happy to be equal if the same amount of work was put in. And it may happen that in months after launch he will be much busier than me... But what if he just keeps on slacking? Advice?
9 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 43.3 ms ] threadBut also keep in mind that as the business/marketing guy, a lot of the work he puts in is not really visible, especially early on. Running social media channels, blogging (content marketing), networking, PR, etc, requires a lot of time and dedication to do it right.
I spend 20 hours a week on things like this, and more often than not, I feel like I'm wasting my time because results don't really happen overnight. Wins (no matter how big or small) don't come easy, and it just adds to the frustration.
I obviously can't speak for him though because I'm not really sure what he actually does.
Most of the hard work is still ahead of you. Try to keep the equity split equal unless someone is talking about a drastically reduced role. Openness is key.
You don't trust your co-founder. Walk away now.
Anyways; we agreed to define some performance indicators, he had some nice ideas and I feel confident in agreement.
I know it's not easy if it feels like your partner is not pulling their weight, but your focus should be on making the product a success at this stage. 60% of nothing is worth no more than 50% of nothing.
It does sound like maybe you have to be the leader though so identify things that need doing and delegate. Consider this your chance to develop your leadership skills.
However this isn't really ideal though because as a 50% cofounder he should be actively seeking non technical things to do to make the company better. At this stage of the company there is no such thing as not having enough work to do.
Likewise you need to be feeding back your progress to him so he sees progress on your side as well. Progress creates enthusiasm which is contagious; if he doesn't catch the bug and up his game soon you need to get him out. He clearly cares less than you at this point. If that doesn't change you're in trouble because the person who cares less always has the power in a relationship.
You're only a month away from launch so a wait and see attitude seems prudent but if your launch was a year away I'd suggest you get out. It seems like you're all in but he isn't yet. If that doesn't change your life will be miserable. Working remotely will not be your friend in this situation.
I think maybe you need a plan to get him out in case things don't work out. Has he put money into the company? Are you both doing this full time? Who owns the IP of the technical work done so far? Has he found customers for you yet or done any market research to guide the development of the product? Is he awesome at what he does? Can you easily close this company and restart without him?
Good luck!